Case Study - calling out an idea stealer at a meeting
This one was founded on Lucio’s wisdom from here:
https://thepowermoves.com/forum/topic/what-to-do-when-someone-appropriates-your-ideas/
I’ve based the scenario on a real situation from one of my projects.
Anybody who’s worked in software development with Product Owners and Projects would recognize it.
Situation: Sally the product owner (from a marketing background) wants to get quick wins to look good in front of the business. She doesn’t like projects and planning – wants action and activity. She owns 2 of the system administrators: David and Sonya
Sally (product owner): In our working group meetings, Fundraising and Workplace Giving are getting a bit tired of waiting for the next release. They’ve been patient but now they’ve got a couple of small tweaks they want to get done soon.
Transitioned (project manager): The project team has been working in sprints. That’s been great for the larger chunks of work. I’m wondering if we could use the team to support David and Sonya to get some of these smaller pieces done.
Tamira (senior marketing consultant): Yes that’s important feedback. Its all about getting the business aligned so that they will be happy for their people to use the system. Lauren – do you mind letting us know where we’re up to with the change survey?
Lauren (change manager): We’ve socialized the questions and agreed what we should be focused on. I’ve got it up in Survey monkey – just waiting for Patricia’s final review (Exec)
Sally: That’s great work Lauren – important to show the business we’re listening and learning. So to circle back I’d like to show the working group we’re listening and acting on their ideas. The feedback I’m getting from the business teams is that they’d love to get some small system tweaks done quickly.
Tamira: It seems like the Project is too big bang and the business needs some support now. Why don’t we move to more of a continuous improvement approach so we can help Sally get some of these features out in a more reasonable timeframe. Sally – do you think you’d be able to spare a little of David and Sonja’s time to get it moving.?
Sally: The idea sound great. I’ll have to talk to them first.
Transitioned: Thanks Tamira, you did a great job of covering my main idea better than I said it. Continuous improvement is exactly what I was suggesting. We’ve can talk to the vendor about having a part time resource to help us out which will give the team enough capacity to be able to support David and Sonya pulling in some of these smaller jobs. I’ll have a chat with Sally offline about what we can do.
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As always extremely grateful for people’s thoughts. Did I apply Lucio's technique correctly? Anything you think we could improve?
Sounds really good.
I think something else that could be mentioned to reduce the general incidence of "theft".
Compare these two:
Quote from Transitioned on December 31, 2021, 8:29 amTransitioned (project manager): The project team has been working in sprints. That’s been great for the larger chunks of work. I’m wondering if we could use the team to support David and Sonya to get some of these smaller pieces done.
VS:
Quote from Transitioned on December 31, 2021, 8:29 amTamira: It seems like the Project is too big bang and the business needs some support now. Why don’t we move to more of a continuous improvement approach so we can help Sally get some of these features out in a more reasonable timeframe. Sally – do you think you’d be able to spare a little of David and Sonja’s time to get it moving.?
Tamira was:
- More WIIFM (or more ass-kissing, if you prefer), she positioned the idea from Sally's point of view. That was music to Sally's ears, it went to the core of what she wanted. That was the key. Plus:
- Customer-centric: As a bonus, she also framed her idea with the "customer-centric" approach that is so persuasive in meetings (ie.: "the business needs some support now")
- More empowering for Sally, you were power-protecting and it was good. Sally went one step forward by framing it as Sally's final choice and finally act of generosity to make that idea work. Now Sally even feels like part of the solution with her magnanimous "yes"
She also dropped a power move with the "project was too big bang".
You might have covered your ass on that one for example saying something "yeah, the project team has done great work and tackled the highest priority (CYA). But we will also handle these loose ends and the support".
Otherwise, strictly for credit-defending, it was great, a great case study.
This one was hypothetical. I was making up the dialogue but pretty common power moves so wasn't hard.
I agree I should be aiming for the WIFM more. This dialogue was for the case study and probably realistic. PMing is demanding. You will have your off days.
Thanks Lucio those words are perfect.
As you picked up, I was thinking that Sally had called the priorities all along. But I couldn't quite put my finger on how to point that out with out sounding defensive.